Sony BDP-S560 Blu-ray player

Sony's BDPS560 Blu-ray player excels at upconverting DVDs

PC World (US online)

  • Review
  • Specs
  • Images
  • User Reviews
  • Buy Online

The Sony BDP-S560 not only delivers terrific high-definition images, but also excels at upconverting DVDs, too. And it does so in a Wi-Fi enabled model. But this model lacks the streaming media extras that competing Blu-ray Disc players offer.

Pros

  • Built-in Wi-Fi, power-saving features, great image quality

Cons

  • Multimedia features for photos only, poor remote

Bottom Line

The Sony BDP-S560 delivers very good images -- exceptional ones on DVD -- and Wi-Fi connectivity, but its poorly designed remote and lack of streaming extras hurt its value.

Would you buy this?

  • Price

    $ 359.00 (AUD)

The BDP-S560 was most impressive in our black-and-white Good Night and Good Luck test. Even water glasses sitting on a banquet table popped with clarity and brilliance. It did almost as well in color movies, with a nice feel of dimensionality in the Mission: Impossible III test. Only in the animated Cars did it disappoint, where a sense of flatness earned it a rating of only Good.

The player earned ratings of Very Goods down the line in our two DVD tests. In the Return of the King test, the colors looked less saturated than those from the reference Sony PlayStation 3 player, but more pleasing and realistic.

You get more than BD-Live when you plug the BDP-S560 into your home network. If you have a computer that runs DLNA server software (including Windows Media Player 11) on your network, this player will recognise it and display the photos from that PC. It can also display photos from a USB drive, but it can't play music or video over a network or USB.

This is the first Blu-ray Disc player we've looked at that comes equipped with two USB ports--one in the back for BD-Live storage, and one in the front for photos. That's a very smart design move on Sony's part.

You don't have to stretch an Ethernet cable from your router to your home theatre to use the BDP-S560's networking capabilities. This Blu-ray player is one of just three we've reviewed that include Wi-Fi (the others are the LG BD390 and the Insignia NS-WBRDVD).

On the other hand, setting up Wi-Fi on the BDP-S560 is no picnic. The setup screen often leaves you wondering what option to pick and what to do next. And the always-difficult task of entering a password via remote control is even harder because the BDP-S560's text-entry screen is so ugly and unfriendly. Fortunately, the player comes with a small booklet for setting up Wi-Fi.

The BDP-S560's box is well made, with a spring-loaded flap that covers the entire front and closes when the tray closes. The Power and Eject buttons are well situated in the upper-left and -right corners of the front panel. The only other buttons, Play and Stop, are clearly marked but feel chintzy.

The BDP-S560 started playing the Independence Day Blu-ray disc in 59 seconds--a bit faster than average.

When you first turn on the BDP-S560, a helpful wizard walks you through setup, sometimes with the aid of useful onscreen illustrations. The wizard will ask you whether you want to turn Quick Start on; it's off by default, to save power. With the Power Off option switched on (again, the default), the BDP-S560 shuts off after 30 minutes of inactivity.

The main menu is a typical Sony crossbar. The onscreen descriptions of your options are usually helpful, if you know some basic terminology. For instance, TV Type is described as "Set the screen aspect ratio of your TV." If you press the remote's Display button while watching the movie, the BDP-S560 will give you some technical details and either the time elapsed or the time remaining (you can toggle between these)--but not the chapter number.

Despite its small, hand-friendly size, the remote control leaves a lot to be desired. The arrow buttons are well placed, but the play buttons (Play, Pause, Skip, and so forth) are hard to reach. The huge Home button, which brings up the player's rarely needed setup menu, occupies the middle of the remote, while the buttons for more-frequently-used disc menus are tiny. Oddly, there's no Eject button at all.

The Sony BDP-S560 is a good player all around, but a larger number of streaming media tricks would have made it much harder to resist.

Keep up with the latest tech news, reviews and previews by subscribing to the PC World newsletter.

Read more on these topics: blu-ray, home entertainment, sony

Be the first to comment.

Post new comment

Users posting comments agree to the Good Gear Guide comments policy.

Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.

Most Popular

Tethering tutorial: How to use your iPhone as a modem
Capacitive vs resistive touchscreens
LCD vs plasma vs LED TVs buying guide
How to pick the right size TV for your living room
The next Xbox reveal: What to expect from the Xbox 720

Best Deals on PCWorld

Printers & ScannersView all »
NotebooksView all »
TabletsView all »
Mobile PhonesView all »
Networking, Wireless & VoIPView all »